What is a Record?

University faculty and staff produce a number of documents every day. Some of these documents will be official records of university activities.

Record

A record is “information created, received, and maintained as evidence and information by an organization or person, in pursuance of legal obligations or in the transaction of business” (ISO 15489-The International Records Management Standards).

A record may be active or inactive.

Active records

Active records are those documents currently being used by a business unit or department on a daily or monthly basis. These records are retained in the department. Typically, if a unit or department needs to reference a record series more than once every three months, it is considered active.

Inactive records

Inactive records are used no more than a few times a year. These records can be sent to UAHC after they have been retained at the department for at least one year after the date of their creation.

Types of Inactive Records

There are two major categories of inactive records at the university.

Permanent Records have long-term historical value to the university. These records should be transferred to University Archives once they are inactive, where they will become part of the university's archival collections and be available for public research.

Temporary Records have legal, administrative, or business value for a specific period of time. These records are kept for a finite period of time (known as a retention period) and are then destroyed when the retention period has passed. These records may be transferred to Archives' for off-site storage once they are determined to be inactive.